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Youku videos go way beyond the web! The CCTV program "Watch" (看见) showcased our Top 10 Videos of 2010, which we chose based on how many views they received -- the Youku Originals short film "Old Boys" was viewed more than 25,000,000 times! -- and how influential they were. All of them were web phenomena in 2010. The list includs:
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“In the Spring" was just another pop song until these two migrant workers in Beijing recorded their rendition. The emotion in this video is real, and powerful. (“[Original singer] Wang Feng's version…can't even come close to evoking any emotional response,” one comment on the video says. “Only the people on the bottom rungs of the social ladder can sing truly about their lives, their hopes, and their souls!”) Many people found the singing of the migrant workers all the more powerful because of the hardships they face – the lack of health insurance, access to education for their children, or basically any social safety net. The chorus of the song evokes this especially:
If one day I should grow old and have nowhere left to turn,
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 TanTe - The Song From Heaven and Its Overwhelming EffectsSomething about that first video got stuck in the brains of Youku users, which led to the craziness you can see in the second. The original video is a song by Gong Linnuo, with a fast but catchy melody and lyrics that are, well, mostly gibberish. Even so, there's something pretty compelling about it, apparently compelling enough to get Youku users out of their seats and into their full-body Pokemon suits to dance and sing along in front of their cameras. In fact, the song has become so popular it's going to be put on as part of this year's 春晚 Chinese Spring Festival Gala, with more people and more instruments for added craziness. | |
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 Hot Mama - The Housewife singing with Baby Bottle This month, netizens were stunned by the emergence of a new singing superstar. Or, at least, the emergence of a girl with the uncanny ability to imitate some of China's most famous singing superstars. But what's really impressive is her extreme enthusiasm as she dances around like a madwoman, singing into an empty baby bottle. Her sometimes pained, crazy expressions make her look like she is possessed by some sort of demon (perhaps the sort that cruelly would force its host to sing a medley of pop songs and upload the video to Youku). But demonic possession or not, the video is infectious and it will make you laugh. It's been viewed nearly five million times already and it's still making the rounds! | |
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 Blue Dream & The Red Scarf - Youku Premieres Celebrates the Holidays with New Works from Grassroot Talents
As one of the many ways Youku is engaging with original "grassroots" filmmakers, we're now offering Youku Premiere, a service that gives student films and other quality user-generated content the virtual red-carpet treatment during this holiday season. One of the short films making its online debut is ' Blue Dream ' (subtitled), a touching short feature from balinghou ("twenty something") director Wu Xingjian. 'Blue Dream' tells the story of two fresh college graduates trying to close the gap between their youthful dreams of fame and success and their low-paying, demeaning jobs. It's a problem that tens of thousands of Chinese college graduates face every year. Wu has created a moving, memorable little sketch of the realities of many young college graduates' lives, and judging by some of the comments on the film -- "here's to those young people who won't let life wear them down," says one commenter -- viewers see something of themselves in it..
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Cinephiles rejoice! We've been hard at work making the film-watching experience on Youku even better -- first with HD movies, and now with widescreen letterbox display as an option for all of our HD titles. You’re going to love the way this looks, we guarantee. One of the movies getting the full HD/letterbox treatment is Au Revoir Taipei (一页台北), a slick film following the story of Kai, a young man in Taipei who wants to be in Paris with his girlfriend. "If Paris is the city of love,” he asks at one point, “then what is Taipei the city of?" But in just one night, he discovers there's more to Taipei than he thought -- and that's all we're telling you. If you can speak or read Chinese, check out this beautifully shot film in all of its pretty wide screen glory. Youku users certainly have been – nearly half a million times so far. | |
| Viral Ad of the Month | |
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The award for customer service above and beyond the call of duty goes to China Mobile and the endlessly patient ladies on their customer service line, as portrayed in this low-quality recording of a completely insane phone call. Sounding decidedly drunk, the caller--clearly a native Chinese speaker--tells the poor customer service lady he only speaks English. She asks why he didn't just call their English customer service line, but he continues to harass her for some time, asking ridiculous questions and responding to every solution she offers him with “Nope. Nuh-uh.” It's hard to imagine what could make China Mobile's customer service sound any better than listening to them patiently put up with this jerk for ten minutes. I hope they gave that poor woman a raise! | |
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In this clever little viral ad for Durex, a "post-80s kid with nothing better to do" (per the video's title) demonstrates that condoms are good for more than making impromptu water balloons and waterproofing microphones, as he fashions a short rope out of condoms and proceeds to use it to tow a minivan with the parking brake disengaged. It's probably best not to try this one at home.
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